Middle English, from Old English aluwe, from Latin alo&emacron;, from Greek. Sense 3b, ultimately from Late Greek alo&emacron;, aloe, aloeswood, from confusion of Greek alo&emacron;, aloe with Greek agalokhon, aloeswood, influenced by Hebrew ’ahalôt, an aromatic, probably aloeswood.

Related Forms:

al′o·et′ic

adjective

aloe

bitter aloe

Aloe ferox

aloe

Noun

(plural aloes)

(in the plural) The resins of the trees Aquilaria agallocha and Aquilaria malaccensis, known for their fragrant aroma.

(botany) A plant of the genus Aloe.

A strong, bitter drink made from the juice of such plants, used as a purgative.

Usage notes

Often used in plural (originally under influence of Old French).

Origin

From Old English alwe (“fragrant resin of an East Indian tree”), from Latinaloē, from Ancient Greek ἀλόη (aloē, “aloes”), from Hebrewאֲהָלִים, ultimately from a Dravidian language; reinforced in Middle English by Old French aloes.

Proper noun

Aloef

A taxonomic genus within the family Asphodelaceae — flowering succulent plants including Aloe vera.

Sentence Examples

But the strip of coast between the Apennines and the sea, known as the Riviera of Genoa, is not only extremely favourable to the growth of olives, but produces oranges and lemons in abundance, while even the aloe, the cactus and the palm flourish in many places.

The olive indeed in all ages clothed the hills of a large part of the country; but the orange and lemon, are a late importation from the East, while the cactus or Indian fig and the aloe, both of them so conspicuous on the shores of southern Italy, as well as of the Riviera of Genoa, are of Mexican origin, and consequently could not have been introduced earlier than the 16th century.

The western dry areas have the old-world leguminous Astragalus and Prosopis (Mesquit), but are especially characterized by the northward extension of the new-world tropical Cactaceae, Mgmmillaria, Cereus and Opuntia, by succulent Amar llideae such as A gave (of which the so-called American aloe is a type), and by arborescent Liliaceae (Yucca).

At first sight a South African Euphorbia might be mistaken for a South American Cactus, an Aloe for an A gave, a Senecio for ivy, or a New Zealand Veronica for a European Salicornia.

The principal trees are the alder, aloe, palm, poplar, acacia, willow and eucalyptus.